This quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control group study compared the impact of Ennis's (1989) mixed instructional methodology to the immersion methodology on the development of critical thinking in a multicultural, undergraduate senior-year learning community. A convenience sample of students (n =171) were selected from four sections of a…

Many factors affect students selecting a university to attend and almost as many factors that can present challenges once they enroll and begin attending classes. Once they start taking courses, the next challenge is completing them, and this can be particularly taxing for online students. In the case of online universities, quality assessment…

This article describes a study that attempted to evaluate the integration of wikis as an educational tool in successfully achieving the learning objectives of a fifth-grade linguistics and literature course. A mixed-method approach was employed--data were collected via questionnaires, reflective journals, observations, and interviews. The results…

This paper explores role-play pedagogies in learning and communicating about cutting-edge flood science by flood risk management professionals in local government. It outlines role-play process/structure and evaluates participant perceptions of their learning experiences. Issues were impacts of prior role-play experience on attitudes brought to…

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to reveal differences between Program Improvement (PI) middle school scripted program and nonscripted program teachers' perceptions of their schools as professional learning communities (PLCs). The concept of PLCs is framed by Hord's (1997) 5 attributes of successful PLCs: supportive shared leadership, shared…

Although collaboration is a well-known and encouraged practice in teachers' work to support children with special needs, it is often conceptualized in either a vague or an overly idealized manner. Additionally, there is a dearth of research on how teachers work together and how this collaboration affects critical outcomes related to their working…

Online learning is in its infancy compared to other types of learning in the history of academe. Because of its limited history, there is much to be discovered about the ontological, axiological, and epistemological aspects of this technology-driven learning environment. While literature is saturated with online student experiences, and the…

This article explains how communities of practice have been developed as part of FrameWorks' field-building efforts. Strategic Framing Study Circles, as they are known, have been conducted with four statewide coalitions, one group of national organizations, and an emerging regional coalition. The goal of each community of practice is to build…

This paper reports on Information Technology (IT) secondary school educators in Victoria and their involvement in an online community of practice. It examined the social effects of the online mailing list technology on their participation and factors that influenced their collaboration with other colleagues. In mapping these elements, the…

School counseling interns are on the boundary of communities of practice. This study explored how school counselors develop competence during internship experiences by analyzing an online dialogue taking place among a small group of interns. Feelings of being on the boundary intensified with unsatisfactory supervisor-intern relationships (lack of…

Founded in 1988, Writers in Electronic Residence (WiER) is an educational and arts initiative that uses technology to connect students, teachers and Canadian authors as members of a creative writing community. Through on-line discussions that allow for a lively multi-party or many-to-many exchange, students and teachers in the classroom work with…

At Hoover High School in San Diego, California, the hard work of learning and refining teaching practices began and continues through professional learning communities (PLCs). The teachers and administrators see PLCs not simply as another reason to attend meetings, but as a means of engaging with their colleagues about the implementation of a…

Everyone can agree that the purpose of schools is "student learning," and that the most significant factor in whether students learn well is "teaching quality." Further, teaching quality is improved through "continuous professional learning." The context most supportive of the learning of professionals is the professional learning community (Hord…

Student retention is one of the most studied areas in higher education. Much of the focus has been on providing services to aid in retention efforts from the first to the second academic year. Freshman seminar classes as well as learning community programs have become common on college campuses to provide students with the resources and support to…

Code Choice in the Language Classroom argues that the foreign language classroom is and should be regarded as a multilingual community of practice rather than as a perpetually deficient imitator of an exclusive second-language environment. From a sociocultural and ecological perspective, Levine guides the reader through a theoretical, empirical,…